Tucker, Truman shut down ‘Cats; UMaine now 5-0

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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Rusty Tucker and Matt Truman combined on a three-hitter Wednesday night as the University of Maine posted a 5-2 baseball victory over host Bethune-Cookman.

Coach Paul Kostacopoulos’ Black Bears improved to 5-0, becoming the first UMaine team to win its first five games since the 1903 season.

“I think we’re confident in who we are, but I think we’ve got to go out there and do it [win] again,” Kostacopoulos told WZON radio.

“[Bethune-Cookman] is a pretty good baseball team. We got a quality win tonight.”

Tucker, a junior lefthander, pitched six innings of three-hit ball, striking out 10 and walking one. Truman, a senior righty, came on to work three innings of no-hit relief to earn the save.

“Rusty was absolutely outstanding,” Kostacopoulos said. “He was 87, 89 [mph] the whole night and he had a great breaking ball. He hit every spot.”

Joe Drapeau rapped a double and a single while Mike Livulpi singled twice for UMaine, which scored all the runs it would need in the first inning.

Livulpi opened the game with a first-pitch single and Mike Ross walked, setting the stage for Drapeau’s two-run double. Jon Hambelton followed with an RBI double.

Kentrelle Evans smacked a solo home run in the fourth for 8-18 Bethune-Cookman, which scored without benefit of a hit in the sixth.

The Bears scored once in the eighth. Livulpi beat out an infield hit, stole second and eventually scored on an error.

In the ninth, Quin Peel singled, took third on Mark Reichley’s hit-and-run single to right and scored on Livulpi’s single to right field.

UMaine visits Bethune-Cookman a 7 p.m. today for a nine-inning game.

Black Bears 5, Wildcats 2

Maine (5-0) Bethune-Cookman (8-18)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Livulpi, cf 4 2 2 1 Simmons, rf 3 1 0

Ross, lf 3 1 0 0 Evans, 2b 4 1 1

Drapeau, 3b 5 1 2 1 Torres, dh 4 0 0

Picard, c 4 0 0 0 Bailey, lf 4 0 0

Tobin, 1b 4 0 0 1 Ramos, 3b 3 0 0

Hambelton, dh 4 0 1 1 Porter, cf 2 0

Peel, 2b 4 1 1 0 McSweeney, 1b 3 0 0

Genest, rf 2 0 0 0 Maples, c 3 0 0

Williams, rf 1 0 0 0 Pichardo, ss 3 0 0

Reichley, ss 4 0 1 0

Totals 35 5 7 4 Totals 29 2 3 1

Maine 300 000 011 ? 5 7 1

Bethune-Cookman 000 101 000 ? 2 3 2

E?Tucker; Evans 2

LOB?Maine 7, Bethune-Cookman 3

D?Drapeau, Hambelton

HR?Evans

DP?Bethune-Cookman (Evans-Pichardo-McSweeney)

S?Porter

SB?Livulpi; Simmons 2, McSweeney

Maine IP R ER H BB SO

Tucker (W,1-0) 6 2 1 3 1 10

Truman (S,1) 3 0 0 0 0 3

Bethune-Cookman IP R ER H BB SO

Montes (L,2-3) 6 4 3 3 2 5

Garland 3 3 2 1 1 2

HBP?Livulpi by Montes, Ramos by Truman

WP?Tucker

T?2:40

Attendance: 175

Husson 13, Defiance 10

At Tampa, Fla., Donnie Sawyer stroked four singles with an RBI to lead the Braves to victory.

Tony Creek cracked two solo home runs and added another RBI for Husson of Bangor, while Jared Foster plated two runs with a double and a single.

Travis Reynolds picked up the win in relief.

Chris Moorman paced Defiance (Ohio) with a double, four singles and two RBIs. Mike Baumgartner hit a three-run double.

Husson (5-4) 306 031 000 – 13 14 1

Defiance (3-3) 202 302 100 – 10 17 1

Dostie, Reynolds (5) and M. Worcester; Gibson and Sander

St. Joseph’s 20, Daniel Webster 0

At Fort Myers, Fla., Matt VanDerburgh rapped a double and two singles to lead the Monks to victory.

Greg Dumais knocked in four runs with a home run and a single, while Jesse Lacasse provided two singles and four RBIs. Matt Berry allowed one hit in four innings to earn the win.

Stephen Cox singled for Daniel Webster of Nashua, N.H.

Daniel Webster (0-5) 000 00 – 0 1 1

St. Joseph’s (5-0) 267 5x – 20 17 1

DeFranco, Reese (2), Dick (3) and Rowntree; Berry, Jacques (5) and Prunier, Goulet

Softball

UMaine drops two games

At Osceola, Fla., Diana Barreras scored on a passed ball with two out in the 11th inning, lifting Eastern Kentucky to victory over Maine.

After seven innings, the game was played under the tiebreaker rule, which places the last batter from the previous inning on second base to start the inning.

In the 11th, Black Bears reliever Ashley Yuhas inherited Barreras, who was sacrificed to third. Carrie Green scattered five hits through 10 innings for UMaine.

Melissa Mather provided a pinch-hit RBI single in the eighth for the Bears. Leigh Ann Hlywak and Lauren Dulkis added singles.

Kristina Mahon pitched a three-hitter for the Lady Toppers. Sun Roesslein had an RBI double.

In the first game, Deanna Dovak hit a grand slam with two out in the sixth inning, keying a five-run rally that carried Rider to victory. Two Maine errors led to three unearned runs in the inning.

Dovak added a double and two more RBIs for the winners. Dawn Fegeley doubled and singled and Heather Boyle singled twice.

Erica Sobel paced UMaine with four hits, including a two-run homer in the third, a solo shot in the fifth and two singles.

(First Game)

Maine (4-7) 202 010 0 – 5 7 4

Rider (6-2) 002 015 x – 9 8 3

Yuhas, Jaegge (6) and Bain; LeCates and Muniz

(Second Game)

E. Kentucky (12-7) 000 000 010 11 – 3 6 1

Maine (4-8) 000 000 010 10 – 2 3 1

Mahon and Mills; Green, Yuhas (11) and Stevens

Saint Joseph’s splits games

At Fort Myers, Fla., Sarah Webster of Searsport pitched a two-hit shutout to lead Saint Joseph’s College to a 7-0 victory over North Park, Ill., Wednesday afternoon. In the late game, Brockport State knocked off the Monks 7-0.

In the first game Wednesday, Webster (2-1) struck out eight batters and walked one.

Becca Neault singled twice and drove in four runs to pace the offense for 2-4 Saint Joseph’s. Courtney Sirois also singled twice.

In the second game, Kristen Clark (2-1) pitched a three-hitter for the shutout, striking out 13 and walking none.

Sarah Hinrichs and Kathy Riggs each had two hits. One of Riggs’ hits was a triple.

Webster, Kristen Gaudette and Kelly Premo each singled for the Monks’ only hits.

(First Game)

Saint Joseph’s (2-4) 001 033 0 – 7 8 1

North Park (4-2) 000 000 0 – 0 2 4

Webster and Picard; Riojas and Fitzgerald, McKee (7)

(Second Game)

Brockport (3-2) 041 100 1 – 7 9 0

Saint Joseph’s (2-5) 000 000 0 – 0 3 5

Clark and Atti; Gaudette and Bain